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| “St Paul at his Writing-Desk “ by Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt, 1629-30 |
Note: In the United States,
the civil holiday of Labor Day is celebrated.
A Mass for the sanctification of human labor may be celebrated using
texts For the
Blessing of Human Labor, #907-911.
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 1
Corinthians 5:1-8
Brothers and sisters:
It is widely reported that
there is immorality among you,
and immorality of a kind not
found even among pagans–
a man living with his
father's wife.
And you are inflated with
pride.
Should you not rather have
been sorrowful?
The one who did this deed
should be expelled from your midst.
I, for my part, although absent
in body but present in spirit,
have already, as if present,
pronounced judgment on the
one who has committed this deed,
in the name of our Lord
Jesus:
when you have gathered
together and I am with you in spirit
with the power of the Lord
Jesus,
you are to deliver this man
to Satan
for the destruction of his
flesh,
so that his spirit may be
saved on the day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not
appropriate.
Do you not know that a little
yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast, so
that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
inasmuch as you are
unleavened.
For our Paschal Lamb, Christ,
has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate
the feast,
not with the old yeast, the
yeast of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 5:1-8
St. Paul begins
this passage with the strongest possible chastisement of a member of the
Christian community who has entered into an incestuous relationship with his
stepmother. It is likely the pretext for the community to tolerate such
behavior was that, in New Testament times, some rabbinical writings indicate
permission being given to a Jewish proselyte being allowed to marry his
father’s widow on the grounds that all previous family ties had been wiped out
at the Gentile’s conversion to Judaism. The practice, however, was condemned by
Jewish law (Leviticus 18:8) and Roman law. According to orations by Athenian philosophers of
the time, the practice was also considered immoral by the Greeks (pagans) as
well.[4]
The community’s acceptance of
this relationship demonstrates how more liberal interpretation of Christ’s law
of love could be perverted. St. Paul pronounces sentence on this man with full
apostolic authority (even though he is, at the time, in Ephesus:“…although
absent in body but present in spirit”), demanding the offender’s
excommunication from the community. Not only is the man to be excommunicated
but the community is to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of
his flesh” (see also 1 Timothy 1:20).
The apostle uses this formula as
prescribed by the Mosaic Code (exile and death, see Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 22:24). His
body is enslaved by sin and suffers. However, the suffering is medicinal since
his spirit (pneuma), God’s breath of life into him (Genesis 1:27), is
saved at the day of Judgment.[5]
CCC: 1 Cor
5:1 2388; 1Cor 5:4-5 2388; 1 Cor 5:6-8 129; 1 Cor 5:7 608, 610, 613
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 5:5-6, 7, 12
R. (9) Lead me in your justice, Lord.
For you, O God, delight not
in wickedness;
no evil man remains with you;
the arrogant may not stand in
your sight.
You hate all evildoers.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
You destroy all who speak
falsehood;
The bloodthirsty and the deceitful
the LORD abhors.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
But let all who take refuge
in you
be glad and exult forever.
Protect them, that you may be
the joy
of those who love your name.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 5:5-6, 7, 12
Psalm 5 is an individual lament contrasting the saving power of
God with the lies of evil people. In
these strophes the psalmist asks that, while the wicked should be cast down,
the just should receive his mercy and salvation.
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Gospel: Luke
6:6-11
On a certain sabbath Jesus
went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there
whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees
watched him closely
to see if he would cure on
the sabbath
so that they might discover a
reason to accuse him.
But he realized their
intentions
and said to the man with the
withered hand,
"Come up and stand
before us."
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
"I ask you, is it lawful
to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to
destroy it?"
Looking around at them all,
he then said to him,
"Stretch out your
hand."
He did so and his hand was
restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what
they might do to Jesus.
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Commentary on Lk 6:6-11
In this passage from St. Luke’s
Gospel, Jesus is challenging the strict interpretation of Mosaic Law that says
the Sabbath must be a day of complete rest and no work may be done. In front of
the most scrupulous of the Jews, the Pharisees, Jesus cures the man with a
withered hand, exactly what they were waiting for, but asks them before he does
so if they understand the difference between good and evil. The deeper question
probably made them more upset than the actual action of curing the man.
CCC: Lk 6:6-9 581
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Jesus continues to heal all those sick or suffering who are
brought to him and have faith. Today he
encounters the man with the withered hand.
In spite of the clear trap set by his enemies, Jesus performs the cure
in apparent violation of the Mosaic Laws about doing anything that could be
construed as work on the Sabbath. At
least in the eyes of the Scribes and Pharisees present, healing the sick fell
into this category. Why else would the
scripture say, after he performed this miraculous work, “…they became enraged?” Perhaps,
it was because Jesus first interpreted their Laws somewhat differently than
they had intended.
Let’s look at the logic from their side:
Healing must be work.
Work is prohibited by Mosaic Law on the Sabbath.
Healing is, therefore, prohibited on the Sabbath.
It was simple. The Pharisees
were scrupulous about Mosaic Law and its observance. They had already encountered this man before,
and knew he had different views about the law. (His disciples picked grain and
ate it on the Sabbath!) Here, they were on
very solid ground, in the Synagogue, on the Sabbath. What does Jesus do? He uses different irrefutable logic:
“I ask you, is
it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to
do evil,
to save life
rather than to destroy it?”
Those who had set the trap were trapped themselves. Jesus had reinterpreted the act of healing
from “work” to “good,” and they could not contradict him. But they didn’t have to like it.
In addition to what we see in the Gospel relative to legal issues,
Paul, in his First letter to the Corinthians, is dealing with a problem that
may actually be related. It seems that the members of the Church of Corinth
have a situation where they have been taking the Lord’s law of love in a
direction distinctly different from what Jesus intended. They were tolerating, even
boasting about laxity of some moral virtue,"...immorality
of a kind not found even among pagans." Today we see Paul reining them
in and correcting them. "The one who
did this deed should be expelled from your midst (excommunicated!).”
It is this combination of points that is important to us. Jesus has the authority to interpret the Law
of Moses because he is the Only Son of God who gave Moses the law in the first
place, and knows the original intent.
That does not mean that anyone can simply interpret what Jesus says any
way they like it. What happened in
Corinth all those years ago is a perfect example. Someone in Corinth, who was part of the
Christian community there, apparently took a real shine to his stepmother and
started carrying on a physical relationship with her. They justified it using as support the love
and compassion the Lord taught. Left
uncorrected, that group would have found a very easy road to the land of the
dead.
We have seen, and are seeing, examples of that same practice today. Without allegiance to a central authority,
small Christian communities can interpret Holy Scripture any way they
want. They can take the smallest
fragment and claim that they are “following what the bible teaches.” Without standards and safeguards, the
permutations are endless. It is a very
dangerous situation for all of Christianity, and it is just a miracle that more
situations like Waco, Texas, and the Mormons’ standards of polygamy have not
occurred. (The good news in the case of the Mormons is at least they do not
claim to be Christian.)
We are not saying that all those who do not give allegiance to the
Catholic Church are immoral, or that they do not accomplish good things. We
simply see the huge danger in operating outside the authority of a central authority,
which has checks and balances to insure that a prayerful response is given to
interpretation and implementation of Christ’s teaching. Let us pray today that the unity of all
Christians may once more be achieved.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “St Paul at his Writing-Desk “ by Harmenszoon van Rijn
Rembrandt, 1629-30
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 51:27, pp. 260
[5]
ibid
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